Hockey girls welcome exposure at Uplands
The festival aimed to develop Lowveld players by exposing them to like-minded, strong hockey- playing schools.
Uplands Prep hosted an u/13 girl’s hockey festival last weekend.
Seven teams from six schools battled it out for supremacy on Uplands College’s astroturf. But, says one of the organisers, Bernie Wheeler, while the players were very competitive on the field, the focus was not on winning and there were no trophies.
The festival aimed to develop Lowveld players by exposing them to like-minded, strong hockey- playing schools.
It started with round robins. Each team played against all the others. These results determined the next placings to pit the strongest teams against one another. It saw some outstanding hockey being played and the girls showed great sportsmanship.
Hillcrest Curro of Durban beat Hatfield Christian School from Pretoria on penalties during a play-off for first place.
Other participating schools were local Laerskool Bergland and Uplands I and Uplands II as well as St Paulus and Tygervalley College, both from Pretoria.
“We don’t actually recognise the places. We tried to match the teams strength against one another on the last day for competition. It is more about development and exposure, especially for the Lowveld teams,” Wheeler explained.
Bergland’s organiser Rikki Claassen said she was very proud of her team. “The girls played outstanding hockey, especially seeing that they haven’t even trained together as a team yet.”
- See more pictures here.
